The Scottsdale City Council is considering how to address issues with pay and turnover at the police department.
These topics were brought to light in a report from the City Manager’s office, although police officers have expressed these concerns to the council several times before.
Scottsdale police officers worked with the City Manager’s office to put together the report and present it to the council Tuesday night.
It compared officer pay to that of other Valley departments and how many police officers were leaving to go to those other agencies.
Councilman David Smith said he isn’t concerned with what other cities are paying their officers.
“What’s the right pay, or what’s the right level of turnover? To compare six other Valley cities is somewhat self-fulfilling," Smith said. "Let’s leave out the other cities. Let’s be Scottsdale. Let’s not copy other communities. Let’s do our own thing and figure out what’s right."
Last year alone Scottsdale lost 10 officers to other Valley departments. As Brent Stockwell with the City Manager’s office pointed out, that’s a new trend the city hasn’t seen before.
“There is a gap between what a Scottsdale officer with, say, five years of experience is paid in Scottsdale and what they might be compensated if they went to the other agencies," Stockwell said.
Council members agree losing officers to other agencies isn’t good and current officers' salaries should be raised.
The disagreement is how much to raise salaries to make pay competitive with other departments. The next step is finding the money to do it.
